An Ethnographic Study of Attitude to English in Bangladesh

Abstract

The objectives of the study included an in-depth exploration of people's attitudes towards the roles and usage of English in daily life, as well as their aspirations for learning the language and their thoughts and perceptions about the current state of English language teaching in Bangladesh. At the outset, a qualitative pilot study was conducted in a rural area to investigate ordinary people's perceptions of English as an international language. The experience of the pilot study allowed the researcher to obtain ethnographic research experience and try out the research design successfully. The study followed a social constructivist paradigm and applied qualitative ethnographic research tools to explore the selected phenomena in a rural area in Bangladesh. The researcher lived there as a participant observer for two prolonged periods and interviewed more than sixty-three participants and observed the community of the area to collect primary data through the ethnographic tools of the interview, group discussions, individual discussions, field notes, memos, photographs, audio and video recordings, classroom observations, scrutinizing the ELT materials and dealt with the data in Creswell’s (2014) rigorous coding and triangulation procedure and presented the findings through interpretative thematic analyses. The research was unique in that it focused on social and economic aspects rather than the conventional academic context found in previous studies. The key research was carried out in a distant rural area in the Eastern part. It examined the locals' attitudes and opinions of English in both academic and non-academic settings. Apart from academic contexts, English was partially found in usage alongside Bangla in the marketing, medical, and financial sectors. However, it was not as prevalent in the two major fields of farming or agricultural business. Because there were few examples of a direct link between English and individual socioeconomic progress, it was evident that the people in rural areas held a mythical association between the two. However, even with a favourable attitude, the quality of English Language Teaching (ELT) was very frustrating at the schools, college, and madrasahs. The findings and interpretations refer to a focus on developing objective-based and practical life-oriented curricula to combat negative attitudes toward the mainstream education system, ensure equity for the underprivileged people, and harness their enthusiasm for English to turn it into a tool for rural socio-economic development.